lost and found
by champion lyra
Summary: "Did you find what you were looking for?" —DataStormShipping, RyokenYusaku. SPOILERS FOR 117.


**Notes**

**SPOILERS. **For episode 117! This spoils things! Quite a bit of things! Please only read once you've watched 117!

"Wow, Mitzi, you sure write a lot of DataStormShipping." Please leave me and my trash self be. I can't help it. I'm in love with these two stupid boys so much.

You know, though, I was really starting to get hopeful that VRAINS wasn't going to end after episode 120, but after today's episode I'm not so sure lmao. At least they _finally _called each other by their real names... only took 117 episodes... and it was so nice to see Revolver without the mask...

Anyways, though, I literally woke up, watched the episode as soon as it was available, and wrote this out in one sitting. It's 8:30 in the morning. I wrote this in an hour. I'm sorry. This isn't beta-read. This is more of my garbled mess of emotions. One day I'll give y'all the quality you deserve. Today is not that day.

* * *

"Never forget," Ryoken whispered to himself once he had finished logging out of Link VRAINS. It was what Soulburner had told him, and truthfully, he couldn't disagree with his reasoning.

The other victims… they _should _forget. It's what he'd always wanted - them all to be able to live peacefully, free from the corrupt wishes of his father and free from the pain and torment they'd experienced. For so long, it had been nothing more than wishful thinking. Now, however, it was starting to seem like it would be possible.

It was fitting, Ryoken supposed. They'd always called themselves the Knights of Hanoi, but what had they really been protecting all that time? Certainly not humanity, not in the ways they should've been. Certainly not the network. He would finally become an actual knight; protecting the network from any sort of harm.

Was this moving on? Ryoken wasn't sure. Part of that battle, as he'd told both Soulburner and Playmaker, was for him to break his own curse; break the hold the past and his father still held over him. To be able to live freely, and make his own decisions for once in his life.

This wasn't that, not yet. He was still following orders, albeit from a very different person, but someday, maybe. If he had the chance - if he didn't lock himself up and throw away the key - maybe, he'd learn what it was like to live as his own person, for his own ideals and goals.

He supposed it was a start, at the very least.

* * *

Everything felt quiet on the small yacht without the presence of the other Knights, but Ryoken didn't mind terribly. It wasn't as if he didn't mourn for their loss, but he was fully aware that Playmaker would not lose. He never had cared about fighting Ai to begin with, in all honesty, knowing from the start that this would end with Playmaker doing all the dirty work as usual.

More so, this time, because this was Ai. This was the AI born from him; his partner throughout the last year. There was really nobody else _but _Playmaker to fight this battle. He, Soulburner, anyone else, really, taking on this fight… It would almost be wrong.

There was the possibility, too, that Ai could come back still. Ryoken wasn't quite sure how he felt about that, but he'd decided the moment he stepped out in front of Soulburner and Playmaker that he would let the latter figure that out for himself. He'd been there, too, when he'd let Blue Maiden live just so she would have to suffer. He'd heard his cruelty with his own ears, seen him use Judgement Arrows with his own eyes.

Despite the way he'd continually tried to make Playmaker understand that he wasn't worth saving anymore, that he wasn't a good person, the fact of the matter was Playmaker could come to his own realizations. Just like he'd been starting to realize, over the past few months, that his father had just been wrong about the Ignis. They were their own people, much as Ryoken had tried to deny it in the past. They had their own thought processes, and should be allowed to come to their own decisions.

If he decided that Ai was worth saving, and there was a way to go about doing it that wouldn't cost the lives of the ones already lost to him, so be it. Ryoken would have to learn to live with that, too.

* * *

Part of him wasn't sure why he had ended up at the bridge near where Ai had stationed himself in the real world. Part of him knew _exactly _why.

Playmaker - Yusaku Fujiki - would come there, eventually. And for whatever reason, Ryoken wanted to see him off. Though he had no doubt in his mind the younger boy would win this fight, Ryoken likely wouldn't be seeing him for a long, long time.

Yes, he had promised Soulburner that he would watch over the network. Yes, he had finally decided that he would learn to live on his own, as his own person, in this world that he'd never really gotten the chance to understand. But he needed time. He needed time to think, away from Den City, for real, this time.

The first time he and the other Knights had taken off in the yacht, part of it had been for self-preservation. Taki had ended up in prison already, thanks to Playmaker, and though his revenge had been over he wasn't sure it was worth the risk. The other part of it, however, had been his own fear.

He hadn't been ready to face the house he grew up in; the house his father died in, so soon after his defeat. He still hadn't been back, not even once. The house would always be there, he knew, when he was ready to return.

Ryoken wasn't sure, however, if he ever would be.

This time, though, he was thinking he'd send his Knights there. Or just back, in general - Taki may have a hard time living normally, until he eventually got around to purging the arrest records of her, but everyone else… They should be able to find their own paths in life, too. All of them had spent their entire lives at his beck and call; fighting a war they believed they'd caused. None of them had ever really gotten to experience living normally, or at least not in a long, long time.

Spectre, in particular, had never gotten the chance to form his own thoughts, much like Ryoken. He'd been ensnared in this tangled mess of a web since he was six years old, and he deserved better. He deserved to be able to live, as much as he might end up hating Ryoken because of it.

The idea of not having them by his side was a frightening one. Since he was eight years old, the other Knights and Spectre had been with him. Being alone for the first time, for real, in over ten years…

Well, it was something he should get used to, he supposed.

With a sigh, he stepped onto the deck, looking up at the night sky. If he knew Yusaku - and as much as he hated to admit it, sometimes, he did - he would be there, soon. He turned over a card, one of the only physical ones he still had, over in his hand.

Truthfully, Ryoken wasn't quite sure why he had taken it out of his deck, but as he knew Yusaku was fast approaching, he made a snap decision. It was the first card he'd summoned using Storm Access against the other boy, after all. It seemed like a fitting parting gift.

* * *

"Ryoken," Yusaku breathed out, looking between the card he'd just sent flying over and Ryoken himself in surprise. Just like in Link VRAINS, he wasn't terribly expressive, but Ryoken knew him well enough to know his tells - how his eyebrows rose for a fraction of a second, how his lips stayed parted instead of in a thin, pressed line.

"Goodbye, Yusaku Fujiki."

The last time he had sped off on his boat, he had known they would meet again. There was still so much left unfinished between the two of them at the time, and with the other Ignis still floating around, Ryoken couldn't have stayed away forever.

This time, though, was different. After this battle, the two really had no reason to see each other again. His mission was over. Yusaku's own revenge had been over for quite some time now. After Ai, any threats that happened were no longer directly their business.

This was really it, this time.

Except, Ryoken knew, it wouldn't be it.

They were still each other's first friends. Though Yusaku had begun his own path to moving on, to finding a better future, he knew the other boy would still want him in it. Just like he was sure he'd still keep in touch with Takeru and Kusanagi after all this. They may not have had each other's numbers, but somehow, in his heart, Ryoken knew Yusaku would find a way to reach him.

Even across oceans, even if it took years. Something told him that Yusaku wouldn't let him go from his life that easily.

And for once, Ryoken was okay with that.

* * *

**TWO YEARS LATER**

It, of course, happened so suddenly that Ryoken hadn't expected it in the least.

He was just at the grocery store, looking for some small helpings. He was no Spectre when it came to cooking, but at least he had been learning to manage over the last two years. Returning off the boat had once meant he could get away with eating take out every single night, but a few months ago he realized that if he were to live on his own forever, he'd eventually have to cave and figure out how to cook; lest he use his entire inheritance fund on dinner for the rest of his life.

Their eyes had met by accident, while Ryoken was walking down one aisle and Yusaku was coming up from the other end, a small basket on his arm. That same basket soon clattered to the floor, and the shopping cart that Ryoken had been pushing around was somehow already to the side of him.

"I found you," was the first thing out of Yusaku's mouth, as he walked slowly over to Ryoken, as if he didn't even believe he was real.

To Ryoken's surprise, his throat felt like sandpaper as he tried to swallow. In the last two years, he knew he hadn't changed much - hadn't grown at all; his hair still kept in the same fashion as it always had been. Even his clothing style was still the same as what he'd always worn.

Yusaku, however, had changed. His hair was still the same as it had always been - though, Ryoken realized, a little pinker then before - and he hadn't grown, either, but… His face looked fuller. Less skeleton like. The clothes he was wearing weren't anything fancy, but they weren't ratty, or his school uniform. It looked like he'd been taking care of himself properly, for once, and the thought made his stomach do something odd.

"You did," Ryoken finally replied, a small smile unconsciously forming on his lips. "I always knew you would."

They were in front of each other, now; standing so close that Ryoken could feel Yusaku's breath on him. Still slowly, as if he were dealing with a frightened animal, Yusaku reached out for one of Ryoken's hands. Ryoken didn't stop him, letting him take his hand with a gentle grip. First one, then the other.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, just staring at each other still in disbelief. Since coming back to Den City, Ryoken had known he would likely see Yusaku someday again, but he hadn't wanted to push it. The last two years were spent trying to figure himself out, and while he'd made great strides, there was still so much about himself he didn't understand.

He was sure it would come with time, but he hadn't wanted to put that on a healing Yusaku; who very well may have already finished figuring out what he wanted in life. What he wanted to do in life.

Now that he was in front of him, though, Ryoken felt like a fool. Something that he hadn't known had been missing in his chest suddenly felt full, just by having this person standing next to him. He'd isolated himself for so long, he wondered if that was all it was, but staring into Yusaku's green eyes Ryoken knew that wasn't all it was. This was something else. Something different.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Yusaku smiled back at him. "I've missed you," he said, the grip on his hands getting a bit tighter. His voice was still much the same monotone it always had been, even as Playmaker, but there was something softer about it now. Ryoken also didn't remember him ever being this… hands on, with anyone or anything, but he supposed two years _was _a long time.

He wondered how much he'd changed, in the younger boy's eyes. If he'd changed at all.

_I missed you, too,_ he didn't say, but he thought the squeeze that he gave Yusaku's hands would be enough to convey it.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Yusaku asked after he didn't respond, tilting his head a little as he spoke.

Maybe yesterday, he would've said yes. Maybe the day before, he would've said no. Ryoken had found some parts of himself, some parts of what he wanted to do and who he wanted to be, but so much was still a mystery. He was beginning to wonder if that would always be the case.

Looking at Yusaku, though, in front of him for the first time since that night, he knew it didn't matter if he wasn't perfect yet. He was only human, after all, and their flaws were what separated them from AI. Human flaws were what he had fought for all that time, and over the last two years, he realized he truly _did _believe that those flaws and experiences were important. Maybe AI and humans could coexist, one day, in a world where people weren't so fearful. Maybe AI with free will _could _fully understand the human condition; if they were to develop themselves into real beings the way Ai did.

The time he spent away from Den City, the time he'd spent in Den City but still away from everyone he had once known - even those he had once called family… It had been necessary. It had been exactly what he'd needed. But looking at Yusaku now, he knew it was time for that to end. It was time for him to come home, fully. Not just to the house he lived in, not just to Den City, but to this person, who had earnestly waited for him for thirteen years. Who he knew would continue to wait for as long as it took.

To his first, real, friend.

"Yes," he told Yusaku honestly. "Yes, I did."


End file.
